442 
CUCKOO. 
great astonishment I saw the young cuckoo, though 
so lately hatched, in the act of turning out the 
young hedge-sparrow. The mode of accomplishing 
this was very curious. The little animal, with the 
assistance of its rump and wings, contrived to get 
the bird upon its back ; and making a lodgement 
for its burthen, by elevating its elbows, clambered 
backwards with it up the side of the nest, till it 
reached the top ; where, resting for a moment, it 
threw off its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged 
it from the nest. It remained in this situation for 
a short time, feeling about with the extremities of 
its wings, as if to be convinced whether the business 
was properly executed, and then dropped into the 
nest again. With these, the extremities of its 
wings, I have often seen it examine as it were an 
egg and nestling before it began its operations ; and 
the nice sensibilities which these parts seem to 
possess, seemed sufficiently to compensate the want 
of sight, which as yet it was destitute of. I after- 
wards put in an egg, and this, by a similar process, 
w as conveyed to the edge of the uest and thrown 
out. These experiments I have since repeated 
several times, in different nests, and have always 
found the young cuckoo disposed to act in the same 
manner. In climbing up the nest, it sometimes 
drops its burthen, and thus is foiled in its endea- 
vours ; but after a little respite the work is re- 
sumed, and goes on almost incessantly till it is 
effected. The singularity of its shape is well adapt- 
ed to these purposes ; for, different from other new- 
